Advent: Returning to Love
Homemade felt heart hanging on a Christmas tree.
The more I contemplate love and peace, the more whole, peaceful and loving I become both to myself and to the world beyond. Healthy expressions of love are both human and divine, sacred and secular. Advent for me is a ritual of returning to love - a seasonal opportunity to tune into something that unites us. Yet there are so many daily distractions, so many hidden wounds and insecurities, that keep me from centering love.
In the Christian calendar, Advent is marked by the four Sundays before Christmas Day, preparing for the birth of Jesus Christ. There are no dates in the New Testament for this event but in 354 it appears in the Roman calendars on the 25th December. Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus meanings arrival or coming, it was the same word used to describe a Roman Emperor’s glorious arrival into the capital city. The word adventure comes from Adventurus - meaning something is about to happen or unfold, a journey into the unknown. So, Advent is a kind of active waiting – waiting for a new adventure to begin, waiting for the arrival of someone or something very significant.
Unlike the Roman Emperor’s grand arrival, the Hebrew Messiah entered the world quietly and humbly. Rather than ruling by fear and punishment, Isaiah prophesied this Messiah or Christ child “a bruised reed he will not break, a dimly burning wick he will not quench” and will “faithfully bring forth justice” and bring peace to earth. Peace being more akin to the Jewish concept of Shalom, not just an absence of war but describing a wholeness, harmony, wellbeing, inner completeness and tranquillity, existing throughout humanity and nature. Jesus, rather than asserting rank and status called his disciples friends and said that the most important commandment was to love - as he has loved them.
Sculpture of tender exchange between Mary and Jesus
At Christmas it feels like we are trying to draw towards shalom. Some of us find ourselves closer than others. Learning to find this kind of peace within and without, in amongst the stresses and strains of daily life, is the mark of true success to me. Peace within helps me face the world’s troubles and my own, with more love than fear, more hope than despair, with more understanding than judgement. Seeking the peace beyond understanding, is not escapism to me, but a doorway to a better way and hoping for a better world. This is why I continue the hard work of reclaiming treasures from my inherited faith and spirituality.
At Advent I am on the adventure, looking for the treasure in the Christmas story and the life of Jesus, who modelled love, both human and divine, with courage and vulnerability, gentleness and strength, power and humility, compassion and peace. Each time I contemplate these things, I learn more about what it is to be fully human and to live a life that centres love. A love that is patient, kind, strong, gentle and generous to name a few of it’s qualities.
So this Advent, whether Christian, post-Christian, never been Christian, agnostic, of other faith or none, I invite you to allow the rituals and traditions of the season, whether religious, spiritual or secular, to help you return to love, to what really matters most and invite more love and find more peace in your life.
If you would like to contemplate Advent further, I am running two online Advent Retreats. Just click below for more information and how to book, join live or book to receive a recording in your inbox.
Book Advent Retreats below:
Light in chapel at St Buenos Jesuit Centre